As I indicated in response to a number of questions, we have had in place an advisory committee on poverty. We have an intergovernmental working group. We have held consultations from January to April 2011. We have been to every region in the Northwest Territories. We’ve had 30 focus group sessions in 13 communities and we are looking at a strategy that would apply NWT-wide. We have developed a broad discussion paper that was based on What We Heard in the communities. We are now having a group of deputies that are taking the discussion paper and taking what we heard in the community consultations, and also taking into account the priorities set by this 17th Legislative Assembly, and

on that basis they will be developing a draft, recognizing the business planning schedule for this government for the fiscal year 2012-2013.

I have to say now that I’m even more dismayed than I was before, that the paper that was given to standing committee at the end of the 16th Assembly can be considered a discussion

paper. This is absolutely incorrect, in my mind. That was a report of what people had said across the territory; it was not a paper which is able to go out and be discussed by Members and by the general public. I’m also totally dismayed that we are going to have a draft strategy produced by a working group of bureaucrats. I have no fault with the skills of our bureaucrats, but it’s been well documented that any draft strategy has to involve other people.

It has to involve those in the public, it has to involve those in poverty, it has to involve NGOs, it has to involve business. I’d like to ask the Minister is there any opportunity in the development of this draft strategy by our bureaucrats, is there an opportunity for all those people that I’ve mentioned, to also have input into this strategy.

I should clarify, it appears the honourable Member misunderstood me when I said the report that I was referring to was based on What We Heard. We subsequently have developed a broad discussion paper. So there are two separate papers. Secondly, we are looking at an NWT-wide strategy and the advisory group on poverty that has been advising us has people from across the Territories that are advising us.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can be really short. I’d like to ask the Premier where is the discussion paper to which he refers.

The broad-based discussion paper is one of the documents, as well as What We Heard through community consultations, and as well as the priorities of this 17th Legislative Assembly; all are information that

are being used to help draft a broad Anti-Poverty Strategy for all of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that we can all fairly say that living in poor conditions sometimes creates health problems. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health. Overcrowding invariably creates health issues related to chronic respiratory conditions. My question to the Minister is: What is the department doing to eliminate tuberculosis rates and rates of other chronic respiratory conditions related to poor living conditions?

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is working on the eradication of tuberculosis. The department works with Aboriginal community governments and our health authorities across the Northwest Territories to make a commitment to eliminate tuberculosis in the Northwest Territories.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that. Is there also an effort to maybe try to describe some of the trans-weather… I know there’s always the possibility of epidemics and I think we recently saw

it in southern Canada. Whether the department is looking at, perhaps, trends or just some target areas, we have to be fairly concerned in terms of this new strain of tuberculosis and how it could probably affect the general health.

Yes, the rates of tuberculosis in the Northwest Territories are six times the national average. That’s a fact, but the numbers are still small. There are 26 cases per 100,000 people. This is the number and it’s less than four cases per 100,000 across the country. In cases where there was a bit of an outbreak of tuberculosis, the department has gone into the community; we’ve gone into the community, we’ve done screening. The last time that occurred we screened 95 percent of the community. We found 17 cases of positive tuberculosis and all of those cases have been eradicated.

I’d like to ask the Minister what are some of the preventative steps or preventative strategies that perhaps the Minister and the department would consider in trying to eliminate tuberculosis and other chronic respiratory conditions that are associated with overcrowding.

The situation is that the community health nurses in communities where tuberculosis has come into the community or the community has come into contact with tuberculosis, the health nurses are working with the communities where there is overcrowding that seems to be one of the factors. We work with the local housing organizations to ensure that if there’s overcrowding in public housing, that we try to address that issue. If there’s overcrowding in the homeownership situation, then we work with the Housing Corporation to try to address that issue.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think my final question is just on the lifestyle that we all live. I think it’s fair to say that we have high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse, and also at the same time, smoking rates are high. What is the department doing to try to maybe perhaps focus on preventative steps so that our people here in the North are living a more healthy lifestyle?

From about 1995 to 2009, smoking for people over the age of 15 has gone down from about 52 percent to 38 percent, and that’s largely to do with the Don’t Be a Butthead campaign that was launched in the schools and so on.

The department is trying to come up now with an overall strategy of health problem prevention, and how we’re hoping to do that is to talk to our authorities, and the communities, and the professionals in the communities and try to package, along with the Aboriginal government, try

to package the programs that are in the community so that we have a greater impact, that good programs are continued and that programs that are not effective can be dropped, and we will focus in on the good programs and hopefully prevent people from getting unhealthy as a result of lifestyle. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to return to my questions to the Premier. I’d like to ask the Premier a few more questions related to some of his answers to my previous questions.

The Premier indicated that the draft strategy is being developed by a group of deputy ministers and that there is an advisory council that is assisting them. My recollection is that that advisory council is perhaps five or six members. I would like to suggest, without casting any aspersions on the abilities of the people on the advisory council, that we have a huge amount of expertise, some of which is displayed in the gallery, but the Anti-Poverty Coalition is some 26 or 29 member groups, and I feel that we are drafting in a vacuum if we don’t involve them. Is the Minister asking that all information be funneled through this advisory group to get to the people drafting the strategy?

To the discussion paper that is apparently being used as a basis for the development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy, the Minister stated that the paper is there. It hasn’t yet gone to standing committee. It hasn’t yet gone to the public. When will that happen, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The advisory committee that we’re referring to is made up of four people and it advised us in the early stages. The discussion paper that has been drafted looked at what is currently being done, what some of the findings are with regard to the discussion that we held with Northerners, and ways to improve the well-being and self-reliance of Northwest Territories residents and gaps and areas for improvement, amongst other things. We will review the progress on the draft strategy, and at some point in the very near future we’ll be going to standing committee to provide an update and at that time we’ll make a determination. Thank you.

Thank you to the Premier for that response. That’s all well and good, but I have to say there’s absolutely minimal opportunity for the public to have any input into the development of this strategy. I can’t stress strongly enough that we have to involve the members of the coalition and

that’s not happening. I didn’t hear the Minister speak to the discussion paper. I would again ask the Minister, the Premier, when will the discussion paper be released to (a) the Standing Committee on Social Programs, and (b) the public. Thank you.

I already responded several times, that we’ve had a very wide period of consultation. In October 2010 there was an anti-poverty workshop held here in Yellowknife. From January to April 2011 we did community-wide consultations in every region. We had 30 focus group sessions in 13 communities. We talked to over 250 people. In addition, we held surveys that anybody in the Northwest Territories that had an interest or view on anti-poverty could submit. I think that we’ve covered the consultation piece quite widely. Thank you.

I’m not suggesting that consultation was not done, but when a strategy is being drafted, I suspect that there are one or two organizations within this territory who might like to have some input onto the development of that strategy. The Premier calls this paper a discussion paper. It’s for the benefit of who? Who’s doing the discussing? From what I hear it’s only deputy ministers. So to the Premier: Who is this paper intended for and is there any opportunity for the public to take part in discussing this paper? Thank you.